Seattle band Satchel played their first show in over 13 years last night at the Croc in front of a sold out crowd. Original members Shawn Smith, Regan Hagar, and John Hoag were joined by bassist Jeremy Lightfoot for a rousing set that surprisingly focused predominately on Satchel's heavier funk-laden material, with well-known piano ballads like "Suffering" mostly taking a back seat. Basically Satchel rocked the fuck out, and it was awesome. Shawn Smith spent most of the night strapped to a guitar which was a nice change of pace, and of course his voice was as soulful as ever. Hagar and Lightfoot were a tight unit, and Hoag tossed in a few killer solos for old times sake. Overall the show was much better than expected, being mostly familiar with Satchel's EDC record, and having not seen them live prior. Let's face it, with production values being what they were in 1994, EDC as with many records of the time sound dated by today's standards, so it was great to hear those songs in their purest form, live and extremely loud.Local band and solo Shawn Smith labelmates "With Friends Like These" had the dubious honor of priming the crowd prior to Satchel's set. WFLT sounded great except for some early technical difficulties, and eventually won over the crowd with material from their debut "Dead and Gone". Their first single "The Ones We Used To Love", which just so happened to come on KEXP as I was driving to the show, was a highlight. Congrats guys!
As I walked up to the Croc, I could hear somebody killing a cover of "War Pigs" inside. I had no idea who "Stuck on a Bus" was, but like a lot of other people in the room my jaw was rested firmly on the floor in amazement while watching the incredibly talented 12-15 year olds channel the mighty Sabbath. It was quite the spectacle, and those are some damn talented kids. Wish I would have shown up in time for the Zeppelin covers too.
Here are some video highlights of the evening:
Check out a podcast review of the EDC by Satchel, along with an interview with frontman Shawn Smith, on Dig Me Out at digmeoutpodcast.com, a weekly podcast dedicated to lost and forgotten rock of the '90s.
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